


Thorns and Fangs

by SincerelyWaving



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, M/M, Not telling what connor can do yet, evan has plant powers, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 05:54:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14888882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SincerelyWaving/pseuds/SincerelyWaving
Summary: Evan Hansen, a chlorokentic teenager is sent to a fancy safehouse for young people with powers. The longer he stays there, though, the more it begins to feel like an insane asylum. From the doctors that seem to be swarming the halls, to the kids that start to disappear randomly. Evan feels like a lone wolf in an impossibly large forest. Will he ever find his pack again, or will his poor choices and hesitance to act lead to his closest friends be ripped away from him?I'm really bad at summaries, the actual story is much better (probably)Aiming for 50k words!





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Going to try and be as accurate as possible, but the first two chapters were written a while ago so they might not be as good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by BBCotaku's "Trying through the Trauma," but it won't follow the same plot line (like at all)

Evan could feel the spiky thorns poking into his stomach, constricting around his midsection as he stared up at the tall building and feeling impossibly small. He knew within reason that the building could only be a few stories, maybe four or five and nowhere near as tall as some of the skyscrapers he had seen when his mother and he had taken a day trip up to New York. Yet, this building with its fading sky blue paint and harsh concrete walls and sharp angles seemed to stretch upwards to the heavens.

Evan gave himself a little shake as sprigs of forsythia poked out from behind his ear and a web of oleander flowers trailed down his left arm and over his cast. He tried to take a deep breath, but it came out shaky and uncertain. He felt his feet move slowly towards the doors as his fingers fiddled with the straps on his backpack. He cautiously pushed the door open, feeling weightless. The thorns tightened around his stomach as he tried to ground himself.

He entered what seemed like a hospital lobby, with a desk in the center and a lady who appeared to be as old as the dinosaurs lazily typing on a computer. Evan shifted his weight from one foot to the other and cleared his throat. The woman didn’t look up, so he took a hesitant step forwards and made a slightly louder noise. Immediately, the woman whipped her head around to glare at him with a hawk’s glare. Evan made a small squeak and ducked into himself, feeling thorns curling around his wrist now as well.

“Name?” the old woman said in a voice that creaked with age. It was harsh and sharp and Evan scurried up to the desk, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. “Evan Hansen?” He cursed his voice for making it sound like a question. The old lady typed snappily on the computer, glaring at the screen. A few seconds of uncomfortable silence later and she turned to bark into a speaker, “Klienman! Down here! Now!” Evan started at the loud noise, but the woman wasn’t done talking, this time directing her voice towards him. “Sit, boy, before you give yourself a seizure. Klienman will bring you to your room.” Evan nodded and spun around to plant himself in a seat, pulling himself to the edge and tapping his foot. He took a deep breath and forced the vines around his midsection to loosen so he could breathe. He ran a hand over where they were. Luckily, the thorns hadn’t seemed to break the skin. He didn’t know what he would do if he had started bleeding, and then he would have to explain what had happened, and explain his power. Then people would think he was weird and laugh at him because he could barely control his abilities and they kept hurting him and that was stupid and-

Evan’s internal monologue was broken apart as a door to the side was slammed open, revealing a boy about Evan’s age standing, arms folded and a scowl on his face. He had short brown hair that seemed to be all over the place and glasses that sparked with electricity. Wait. Electricity? Evan watched as the boy sauntered over to the desk with a forced smirk on his face.

“Howdy, Whitman. What’s happening?”

The woman, Whitman apparently, glared at the boy. If it bothered him, he didn’t let it show. She handed him a small file. “Take Mr. Hansen to his room, and do your best not to fry anything on your way up there.” The boy turned to look at Evan, taking the file from her. Evan shrunk in on himself further as he felt the boy running his eyes all over him. Judging him. Hating him. Judging. Judging. Hating.

“Whelp, let’s get going then, come on kid.”

Evan scrambled after the boy, quickly falling in step behind him. He didn’t dare say anything, which was probably a good thing, because his companion seemed to love to talk.

“So, you’re new here,” he started. “Which means I’m unofficially your guide, teacher, and all that shit. My name is Jared Klienman. Don’t bother calling me anything else, I won’t answer to anything except my name and ‘hey asshole.’ I can control electricity, which means I will give you a nasty shock if I hear you talking shit. Yes I talk a lot. This place is fucking huge, so don’t expect me to show it to you. There’s a map in your file.” He gestured to the file in his hand before opening it and skimming over the first page and immediately breaking into a kind of laughter that made the vines around Evan’s wrist press tighter into his skin. “Dude, you’re rooming with Murphy, which fucking blows, so don’t expect me to save your ass if he tries to murder you or something. Any questions?” He turned to face Evan who was certain his face was completely white.

Evan shook his head as they reached an elevator. Jared stared at him, tilting his head slightly as he studied him behind his slightly sparking glasses. “So, you like a mute or something?” Evan’s head shot up and he vigorously shook his head before saying quietly, “I don’t talk much.”

Jared snorted. “That’s an understatement.” Before Evan could respond, the elevator doors open and Jared walked inside, trailing behind. There was already a girl in there, looking at them with a bored expression. She nodded in greeting, but Jared had more to say than that. “Ah, Zoe!” he crowed, pushing the button for the fifth floor (there were seven). “So good to see you! Heading up to visit your batshit crazy brother?”

Zoe shot him a glare and Evan gulped. It seemed that everyone was glaring here. Evan didn’t like it when people glared at him. “Yes, Jared,” she said Jared like it was poison on her tongue. “I’m visiting Connor.”

Jared barked out a laugh. “Well, then you can take my buddy Ev here. He’s got Connor as a roommate and I’m late for all kinds of things.” He shoved Evan’s file towards him and poked a thumb onto the button for the sixth floor.

Zoe looked Evan up and down, and he felt the oleander along his arm wrap tighter. “They paired you with my brother?” The way she said ‘you’ made Evan’s blood run cold and bile to rise in his throat, but he nodded hesitantly. Zoe sighed. “What’s your thing?” she asks.

“My… Thing?”

“Yeah, you know, like your skill, your superpower, your whatever,” Jared snapped, sparks fizzling around his hair.

“Oh,” Evan said. “I, um, I can make things… Grow? Like, out of me sometimes, but like I can make things grow, um, out of… Nothing? It’s like, hard, yeah, hard, but I have seeds? Too?” Evan shifted on his feet, fingers tapping anxiously on the manila folder. He wondered what was in it. Maybe he would look at it once he got to his room. A Christmas rose flower began to bloom behind his ear as a few Sycamore leaves fell from his blond head.

Evan could feel Zoe watching the white flower grow. “Well, listen. Don’t let my brother push you around.” A hard look grew in her eyes. “He’s a dick, but like, try not to let him get to you.” Evan nodded as the doors opened to the elevator and Zoe stepped out. Jared gave Evan a small shove and a shock, muttering something like, “good luck,” and then Evan was out in the hallway with Zoe.  
Zoe started to march off and Evan followed dumbly, fingers still running awkwardly over the folder with his name on it. The hallway was long and stretched in both directions, doors breaking up the bland concrete wall every now and then. Zoe slowed as she came towards one that read, ‘Room 502.’ Evan gulped as she knocked on the door.

“Fuck off Zoe!” he heard from within, a rough voice who he assumed belonged to Connor. He wondered how he knew it was her.

“I have your roommate, and also mom says she’s coming to visit tomorrow so you better drag your ass out here for that,” she shouted back.

There was a pause before Connor responded. “I don’t have a roommate, what the fuck?”

“You do now, dipshit!” Zoe snapped. “Just open the door and let him in or whatever.”

Evan heard grumbling from behind the door before the click of the lock and then the door was swung open. He was suddenly very glad that he was standing behind Zoe. Connor was taller than Evan by a few inches and had a wild, unruly mane of tangled brown hair that went down to his shoulders. There were deep bags under his bloodshot eyes and Evan caught a whiff of something that smelled strongly but he couldn’t quite place it. His eyes were piercing icy blue, but his pupils were thin and looked like a cat’s.

Zoe wrinkled her nose at the sight of her brother. “Have you been smoking pot again?” she asked.

Connor rolled his eyes. “Yes Zoe, let’s just ignore the fact that I’ve been clean for the past three months. No, I haven’t been smoking pot.”

Zoe rolled her eyes, an action that was very similar to her brothers. She stepped back and nodded to Evan. “Well, I’ll let you two get settled in together or whatever.” With one final glare at her brother, she spun on her heel and stormed off back down the hallway towards the elevator. Evan felt every small at that moment, underneath the harsh gaze of Connor. He shifted awkwardly on his feet, unsure if he should say anything.

“Well come on then,” Connor finally said, standing aside to let Evan into the room. “They’ll probably drop your shit off while you’re at dinner or something.” Evan nodded and Connor closed the door behind them, or rather slammed it shut. Evan took the opportunity to look around the room. It was small. There were two beds on either side of the room, tucked into the corners. Each bed had a bedside table and at the base of each bed was a dresser. In between each of the tables was a large window with the blinds open. Connor shouldered past Evan and threw himself lazily onto the left bed, and started talking.

“Alright, so you’re gonna have to live with me for the time being, unless you want a transfer, but I’ve been with you for a total of two minutes and I can already tell that you’re not the kind of person to complain about shit like that, so there’s a few things you need to know. First of all, I’ve been diagnosed with depression and BPD which means I’ve got a fucked up brain. I have anger issues and tend to yell and curse a lot. I take medication, two pills in the morning. On the first of every month I let myself have a cigarette. I’m recovering from pot addiction, but as I mentioned to Zoe, I’ve been clean for three months and don’t have any access to more. Any questions?”

For a second, Evan couldn’t find any words. Of all the things to be greeted with by his roommate, he can’t say that this was what he was expecting. After standing there dumbly for a minute, he shook his head, maple leaves falling from his blond hair as he did so. He opened his mouth, “Oh yeah, no that’s okay. Um, I have extreme social anxiety, and d-depression too, and I stutter a lot, and I hate my voice because it’s weird and s-stupid. A-Also my hands are like always sweaty but I shouldn’t be worried about it because who would spend their time worrying about something like that? Well apparently I do and also I have medication too, so yeah, sorry I ramble a lot or I don’t talk at all and that can be really annoying sorry.” Evan cast his eyes downwards. Why did he have to make that weird? Connor probably didn’t want to hear about all of that anyways, he was just being stupid. He was always stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

“Well, good to know we’re both equal levels of fucked up,” Connor finally said. Evan looked up and tried for a small smile, but it was awkward and forced. Connor gave him one more glance that Evan couldn’t quite interpret before shoving earbuds in his ears and laying his head back on the pillow and glaring at the ceiling. With a sigh, Evan made his way to the other bed, setting his backpack down on the floor beside him and stared at the plain grey ceiling. This was certainly going to be interesting.


	2. Making Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan meets the rest of the gang and has his first therapy session, oh boy

Evan didn’t remember falling asleep, but he was woken up by the rough sound of Connor shouting at him. Sitting up, he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. He looked up blearily to see Connor standing above his bed, looking at him with an expression he couldn’t place. “W-what?” he stuttered out.

Connor rolled his eyes and folded his arms, straightening back up. “I said, it’s time for dinner, unless you plan on not eating today.” Evan shook his head and got up from the bed, following Connor out the door. He ran his fingers through his hair on the way to the elevator, attempting to smooth it out and make it somewhat presentable. He thought he saw Connor give him a small smirk, but if he had, the expression was gone as quickly as it had come. They weren’t the only ones waiting for the elevator, and once they got in, Evan noticed how the other two kids curled themselves up into the farthest corner away from Connor.

Jared’s words echoed in Evan’s head as he shot a wary glance at Connor who was staring blankly at the doors. When they opened, he ducked out and turned down a corridor and disappeared from sight. Evan almost followed him, but a hand on his shoulder made him jump.

“Hey, Acorn!”

That voice did little to relieve Evan’s anxiety as he turned to face the smirking Jared. “Hello again,” he muttered. Jared began to lead him away from wherever Connor had gone off to, babbling all the way and leading him into a massive eating hall. Evan felt the now familiar thorns tighten around his wrist as Jared pushed him over to a table in the middle of the room. It was so loud in here, Evan could barely hear his own thoughts, much less Jared’s monotonous voice talking about nothing. Evan was pushed onto a seat, but he barely registered it. The only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat threatening to break through his own ribcage.

A hand on his startled him as another voice pushed into his head: ‘relax.’ Evan looked up, trying to remember how to breathe. In, out. In, out. In, out. In front of him was a pretty girl with dark skin and pretty dark hair. She had large intelligent eyes surrounded by wiry glasses that Evan couldn’t be sure weren’t for aesthetic purposes. She had her hand on his and was looking at him with a vaguely concerned expression. As he got his breathing under control, Evan slowly pulled his hand out from underneath hers.

He took a hesitant glance around. Jared had plopped himself down next to Evan and had begun poking at a plate of food, a disgusted expression on his face. Directly across from him was Zoe who had assumed a bored expression that Evan guessed was her default. She was lazily leaning on one hand, moving her food around the plate with her fork but not eating any of it. Next to her was the girl who was withdrawing her hands across the table.

“Are you alright?” she asked. Evan opened his mouth to respond, but she kept talking. “I’ve had my own fair share of panic attacks, but that one looked really bad! You must be new here, you looked a little like a scared rabbit. I hope Jared didn’t scare you too much, he’s been known to play some rather nasty pranks on the new kids.”

Jared butted in to the conversation, talking over the girl. “I didn’t do anything to him, he’s just jumpy, right kid?” As if to illustrate the point, he slapped a hand on Evan’s shoulder, causing the boy to jump and the thorns around his waist constrict further. Evan closed his eyes and focused on breathing. What a great first impression.

When Evan reopened his eyes, he found the mystery girl staring at him. Or more specifically, at the wilting flower that had bloomed behind his head. “Are you chlorokinetic?” She asked him, curiosity sparking her tone. Evan tilted his head, brain too muddled to try and comprehend what that word meant. Clearly, Jared was equally confused, muttering under his breath for her to speak English. The girl flashed them both a painfully fake smile. “Chlorokinesis means you can control, manipulate, or talk to plants. I’ve never seen it in action before,” she gestured to the wilting flower now hidden by Evan’s hair, “but I know there have been some really incredible people who have been chlorokinetic.” She would have continued on for even longer, likely entertaining the table with a long list of all the most famous people who were chlorokinetic. Luckily for all of them, Zoe butted in.  
“What’s your name?” she asked, cutting off her friend, though the girl’s smile never faltered.

“Um, Evan.”

Zoe nodded, like she was pondering the name in her head. “Well, I’m Zoe, I think you knew that though. You know Jared, and this is Alana.” Alana waved, her fake smile widening. Evan gave a little wave in return, the thorns slowly removing themselves from his waist as the noise level became background noise.

“So, what can you guys, you know, do?” he stuttered out, hands waving vaguely. Alana beamed. Her smile was starting to unnerve Evan. He wondered why she felt the need to be so positive all the time.

“Well I’m a telepath!” she said. “I can only hear people’s thoughts specifically when I’m touching them, but Miss. Sylvie says I might be able to do it without physical contact if I keep practicing. Usually, I just get a sort of vague idea of what people are thinking about.”

Jared smirked, “So what am I thinking about Lana?”

Alana rolled her eyes, an amused smirk on her face. “He asks me every time,” she said to Evan. “And every time, he’s thinking about how awful the food is.”

“Well it is!” Jared exclaimed, throwing his fork on the table. “I mean, you’d think that a facility that acts as a summer camp for magical kids would get, like, at least two people who knew how to cook.” Zoe and Alana shared a bored look, like they had heard this monologue many times before.

“Can I, um, can I ask what I’m thinking about?” Evan asked hesitantly.

“What, like you don’t know?” Jared smirked. Evan turned slightly pink.

Alana narrowed her eyes slightly like she was concentrating. “I can’t really tell, everything in there is kind of a mess.” When she saw Evan’s face fall, she quickly waved her hands to try and backtrack. “No, no, no, not in a bad way! You just think really fast, there’s a lot going on in there, and that’s totally not a bad thing, I’m sure if someone poked into my head, they’d hear the same thing!” Evan nodded, not entirely convinced.

“Well, I’m a pyrokinetic,” Zoe said, her voice sounding almost bored. To demonstrate, she snapped her fingers, a small flame emerging from her thumb. She stared at it for a little bit, the fire reflecting off of her hazel eyes. Evan noticed they turned a slightly orange color that disappeared when she waved her hand, the flame disappearing. He wondered if his eyes did the same when he used his powers. Zoe noticed him looking at her and gave him a tight-lipped smile before returning to poke at her food. “Did my brother give you any grief?” she asked suddenly.

Evan shook his head. His thoughts returned to Connor, and where he had disappeared off to. “Why doesn’t he, um, eat here?”

Zoe sighed. “He doesn’t like to eat dinner,” she said. “I’m lucky if I can get him to grab anything at all for breakfast and him usually only pokes at his food for lunch. I don’t know how he survives honestly.”

“Spite?” Jared threw out, causing a small chuckle from Zoe and awkward laughs from Evan and Alana.

“Yeah, well, he’s probably in the library, reading god only knows what kinds of things he enjoys,” Zoe continued, her gaze turning dark as if she were remembering a painful memory.

“Not to be rude, but shouldn’t you, shouldn’t you know what he likes? He is your brother?” Evan’s voice turned up on the last statement, like he was asking a question.

Zoe laughed, dry and humorless. It reminded him of Connor’s laugh. “Just because he’s my brother doesn’t mean I have to like him.” She caught Evan’s gaze and sighed, setting down her fork. “It’s not your fault, you’re new, but trust me. My brother is,” she paused, trying to find the right word, “psychotic. Paranoid. Angry. I don’t know the best word to describe him. He doesn’t talk to me, and when he does he yells. If he does anything,” Zoe looked up, a new emotion in her eyes that scared Evan, “and I mean anything at all, you need to ask for a transfer. He’s a monster. Don’t let him hurt you.” The table went quiet, what little remained of Evan’s appetite flying out the window. A small begonia flower began to bloom right above Evan’s cast, the pretty pink contrasting with its meaning: Beware.

Suddenly, Zoe stood and walked off, her food abandoned on the table. Alana shot him a pitying glance before standing up to follow her, leaving Evan and Jared sitting at the table in uncomfortable silence.

“Don’t worry about her,” Jared said in a bitter tone, “she’s just gonna go and cool down for a while. It’s a bit of a touchy subject for her.”

“Sorry,” Evan replied timidly.

Jared snorted. “You should have said that to her.”

Evan nodded, eyes downcast and staring at the table. Way to go, he thought. Only a few hours in and he’s already managed to have a panic attack, piss off someone who could control fire, and make a complete idiot of himself in front of the girl who could hear his thoughts. Evan heaved a heavy sigh and pushed the plate of untouched food away from him and lay his head down on the table facedown. He let out a small groan, earning a pitying pat on the back from Jared that made him jump a little.

“There, there, acorn boy. She’s not mad at you, don’t worry. She just hates her brother.” Evan snorted. Yeah right, he made a complete idiot of himself, as always.

A hand on his shoulder made him start, and he lifted his head up to see an adult giving him a small smile. Immediately, Evan shot up, eyes wide. He gulped. Who was he? What was he doing here? Did he need something from Evan? Was he in trouble?

“Hello, its Evan right?” Evan nodded dumbly and the man’s smile widened. He continued, “I’m Dr. Sherman. I’ll be your therapist for the time you remain here that you still need one. Would you mind coming to my office?”

Evan shook his head and stood, food abandoned and palms sweaty. He shot one final glance over his shoulder at Jared who smirked at him and gave him two sarcastic thumbs up which absolutely did not help Evan’s mood. Evan trailed behind the therapist meekly, following him through corridors that all looked the same and past doors that were nearly identical except for their bland signs listing off room names that had no meaning to Evan.

Dr. Sherman pulled open a door in front of them and stood to the side, gesturing for Evan to go in first. He did, hurrying inside. The room wasn’t particularly large, but it was the most color Evan had seen since he had gotten here. The walls were painted a calming blue and there was a couch pushed up against the side of the wall. Across from the couch was a large armchair and standing next to it was a small table with a notepad and pen on it.

Dr. Sherman emerged from behind Evan, closing the door behind him with small snap that made Evan jump. He took long strides to sit in the armchair, picking up the notepad and scratching down some notes in it. A sprig of Forsythia bloomed from just above Evan’s cast, underneath the Begonia flower and trailing down the painfully white plaster. Dr. Sherman looked up and gave Evan a small smile, gesturing to the couch and saying, “Please, sit.”

Evan did so quickly, perching himself on the edge of the couch, foot bouncing. He looked up at Dr. Sherman and tried for a hesitant smile that he was certain looked more like a grimace than anything else.

“So, Evan, tell me about yourself.”

Evan gulped. “What, um, what did you want to know? C-cause I’m not a very interesting person.”

His therapist gave him a pitying smile. “Don’t sell yourself short, Evan. I haven’t met a single uninteresting person in all my years of being a therapist.”

“Heh, well be ready to be surprised,” Evan said with a weak chuckle.

Dr. Sherman gave him another small smile, jotting a few things down on his notepad. “I understand you have anxiety, yes?” Evan nodded and Dr. Sherman patted a manila folder that had been lying underneath the notepad. He blandly wondered how many folders they had to buy in this place. “Do you currently have any medication with you?” Evan shook his head, a goldenrod flower beginning to hang over his ear.

Dr. Sherman beamed and pointed with his pen to the flower. “What type of flower is that? I assume they have meanings?”

Evan nodded. “I, uh, it’s a goldenrod flower. They, they, do have meanings.” Dr. Sherman gave him an expectant look and Evan gulped, rubbing at the forsythia. “It, uh, it means to be cautious?”

Dr. Sherman nodded, an interested look on his face. “Fascinating. And do you know these meanings naturally, or have you had to learn them?”

“I just, sort of… Know them.”

“Very interesting,” Dr. Sherman said, continuing to right on his board. “And do you find yourself enjoying these abilities, or do you think of them more as a hindrance?”

Evan considered the question for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said helplessly with a shrug. “They’re just sort of… there.”

Another nod. Evan had the feeling this was going to be a very long session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lazy ending, idk how to end things very well

**Author's Note:**

> Comments give me motivation to be productive


End file.
